Trailer for Regina King-Directed ‘One Night in Miami’ Unites Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke

Muhammad Ali celebrated his first win over Sonny Liston with Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown. 'One Night In Miami' speculates how that might have gone.

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Something that's always shocking in any look back on an era's famous people is just how small the community of celebrities really is. But even in a world where someone like Charles Manson was able to meet half of Hollywood after getting in with a Beach Boy, the real life story that inspired One Night in Miami is staggering. 

Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali (still going by Cassius Clay), Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown really were friends and they did hang out after the young boxer defeated Sonny Liston in Miami in 1964. While no one outside of the group knows for sure how they celebrated the win that made Ali a star, the fictionalized version in One Night in Miami has already proven to be a hit on the stage. Take a look at the trailer for Amazon Prime Video's film adaptation—Regina King's feature directorial debut—up top. The Watchmen star/Oscar-winner's TV-directing career includes episodes of Insecure, This Is Us, Shameless, and Scandal.

Per a press release, King's film "looks at the struggles these men faced and the vital role they each played in the Civil Rights movement and cultural upheaval of the 1960s." The play follows their "conversations on racial injustice, religion, and personal responsibility," with the idea that the conversations and conclusions still carry weight in the modern day.

The movie stars Aldis Hodge, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Leslie Odom Jr. as Clay's cadre of companions. Canadian actor Eli Goree will play the champ himself, using a script written by the original playwright Kemp Powers.

One Night in Miami is due out in theaters on Christmas Day and will premiere on Amazon Prime on Jan. 15.  

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